Cause for Celebration
by PierceTheVeils
Summary: It began with Winx. It currently resides in the AA domain, but sees its future beyond the horizon. The "it" being Pierce's fanfiction aspirations, of course. In celebration of her account's five year anniversary, Pierce penned this love letter to every fandom and site she has ever resided in, along with all the individuals who have helped her along the way.


Cause for Celebration

 _Coming to you live from Fourth Wall Convention Hall, celebrating her fifth year fanfiction anniversary, we bring you... PierceTheVeils, performing her own version of the hit song "thank u, next"!_

In a format this author has not used since the after-party to _Out of the Darkness_ , a now-mature young woman steps out onto the stage. She is once again dressed all in silver, though the dress is fully intact and her makeup and jewelry are far less exaggerated. Her red lipstick is applied neatly over a nervous smile. Her eyes, their natural hazel, scan the crowd.

Everyone in the audience is sitting at tables of eight to ten, looking as though they're attending a formal banquet. It was obvious not everyone in the room knew each other, and each subdivision was clustered in a group. Readers, coauthors, betas, OCs, and characters from Pierce's Winx days (along with her former after-party partner, SME) were seated off to the left. Though the sight brought fond memories to Pierce's heart, it was also bittersweet: much like her friends from the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus fandom (who sat just to the right of them) she hadn't spoken to many of them in years. The largest group in the hall was by far the group in the middle, the one for Ace Attorney. Most of the party-goers at the group's front were individuals the author was in constant contact with, but she beamed when she specifically saw Ajani and Emmy there as well. On the far right edge, the most silent group when it came to interacting with her, was the Star Wars fandom. They were the group that she saw her future with, but had yet to make much of an impression on. Other fandoms' representatives were mixed in as well, but they didn't have enough people to command a significant presence.

Waiting for the crowd to quiet down, Pierce took the microphone from its stand. She cringed from the slight feedback, waiting for it to die down before she spoke. "Hey everyone. Long time no see for some of you." She looked down, trying to focus on the speech she'd prepared in her head. "Gosh... has it been five years already? I was in middle school when I first made an account on this site. Ao3 was a year or two later, but still. Time passes, and some seven hundred thousand words later... I'm an adult. It's this account's birthday _and_ mine.

"I'm so thankful for everyone who's here, some of whom I will call out by name in this glorified author's note. But while I am doing that, I'd like to perform a special song parody for you. Something that will almost certainly sound dated in the next five years." Lucky for the girl typing on the keyboard behind Pierce, her fanfic alter-ego had a wonderful singing voice.

One can decide these things when they're the author of a story. Wait, crap, the song's starting.

 _"Thought I'd do more with Winx,_

 _"But it wasn't a match._

 _"Wrote some fics about Percy,_

 _"Now I read them and laugh._

 _"Even modded a forum,_

 _"For those friends, I'm so thankful._

 _"Welcome back to ERB._

 _"'Cause they are some angels."_

A few party-goers chuckled when they recognized the song she was using. It was timely, to be sure. But it provided Pierce with the perfect opportunity to reflect on her fanfiction past without losing her excitement for the future. Plus everyone would know what year this fic was written in, even without reading the posting info.

 _"Percy taught me fun_

 _"AA taught me patience_

 _"Canon Winx taught me pain_

 _"Now, this feels amazing._

 _"I've led and I've co'd,_

 _"But that's not all I see._

 _"So look what I've done._

 _"Look what y'all've brought me._

 _"And for that I say:"_

As Pierce launched into the chorus, she made especially sure to point out real individuals who had helped her along the way. There were too many to list, and more that had since left Pierce's life, but here and now, in this fanfiction, they were there. Even if their real life selves didn't know it. It was to them she felt the desire to sing.

 _"Thank you, next_

 _"Thank you, next_

 _"Thank you, next_

 _"I'm so effing grateful for my co's._

 _"_ _Thank you, next_

 _"Thank you, next_

 _"Thank you, next_

 _"I'm so effing grateful for follows."_

Yes, she had censored the lyrics to better suit this medium. Gotta maintain that K rating on FF net (and G, when this gets uploaded to Ao3 minutes later) _somehow_. As for SME, AE, T-Duck, Ajani, TLG, Knight, and RJ, it was _true_. She couldn't have asked for better partners at each stage of her life. Some of them she was still working with.

And with regards to her followers? She loved all eighty-nine of them. One hundred and two, if you combined it with Ao3 user subscription numbers.

 _"Get more time yet with AA,_

 _"So don't be worried 'bout nothing._

 _"Though I met someone else,_

 _"We having heated discussions._

 _"I know I start new projects too fast,_

 _"But these gonna last._

 _"'Cause it's IUR, CS, and AAI3,_

 _"And I'm so good with that."_

Technically, Pierce had _four_ main projects she was currently updating semi-regularly, but Miracle was initially created as a side story to AAI3, so she didn't feel it deserved specific mention. There was also her drabble series, but that one was more sporadic.

It occurred to Pierce as she was singing that it might be worth her time to put out more one-shots and short multichaps. It sure could be nice to write something that wasn't part of a greater series every once and a while. She was so busy considering it, she almost came in late on the second refrain.

 _"These taught me toughness._

 _"They taught persistence._

 _"How to handle scale,_

 _"This stuff's amazing,_

 _"I've finished and abandoned,_

 _"Unfortunately._

 _"But these friends I've found,_

 _"No more need for searching,_

 _"And for that I say:_

 _"Thank you, next_

 _"Thank you, next_

 _"Thank you next,_

 _"I'm so effing grateful for betas._

 _"Thank you, next_

 _"Thank you, next_

 _"Thank you, next_

 _"I'm so grateful for the review-ahs."_

The last rhyme was a bit forced, but it was true. T-Duck, AE, Art, Emmy, and The Scollard were all such amazing betas to her at different parts of the timeline. Past present, and even (hopefully) future. And her reviewers always brought joy to her heart, _especially_ the regulars. Both their criticism and encouragement had pushed her to grow as a writer beyond measure.

Don't believe it? Read Pierce's early work at the bottom of her profile page. If you can get through it without cringing, you are stronger than she is.

Pierce repeated bits from the chorus, all with a huge smile on her face. When it was time for the third verse, she looked as though she were about to cry.

 _"One day my name's on the aisle,_

 _"A published book on their shelves._

 _"I'll be thanking y'all here,_

 _"'Cause you taught me 'bout myself._

 _"Wanna do it someday, bad_

 _"Gonna get originals out fast._

 _"Telling you, it's gon' happen._

 _"'Til then, my fanfics still smash."_

The last line was accompanied with a wink, with earned her a few laughs. As for Pierce's publishing dreams, she was already published statewide (under her real name, obviously) with original poetry and her way to doing so nationally. But those works were contained within anthologies, not their own body of work. Not to mention, it paled before the prize of an original novel.

And who would have thought _poetry_ would be her way in anyway? Five years ago, this girl couldn't stand the stuff.

But enough bragging. It was time to finish the song.

 _"I've learned so much,_

 _"Gotten so much practice,_

 _"And pushed through the pain._

 _"Improving, amazing._

 _"Works have soared and they've fallen,_

 _"But that's not all I see._

 _"'Cause y'all are what I found._

 _"No more need for searching._

 _"And for that I say:_

 _"Thank you, next_

 _"Thank you, next_

 _"Thank you, next_

 _"I'm so effing grateful for fandoms._

 _"Thank you, next_

 _"Thank you, next_

 _"Thank you, next_

 _"Grateful for the kink memes and forums."_

"Kink meme" sure sounds dirty in the context of a K/G-rated fic, but they're really just prompt sharing websites. Only about half the prompts on there contained any mature content to speak of, and they'd been the inspiration behind some of Pierce's greatest AA fics... and some of her worst that never made it onto a not-entirely-anonymous posting medium.

That vampire AU will never see the light of day, lest it burn up and shrivel in the sunlight. And if anyone got her _started_ on the puppets-

Wait, there's more lyrics in this song? ...Oh, good, it's just some nonsense repeats. Pierce has that handled fine.

As the song finished out, the hundreds seated in the convention hall all rose to stand. Some simply applauded, a few "Happy Birthday"s were thrown into the mix, but by far the most meaningful was the rushing to the stage by her once and future moirail, StrangeMindEnigma. She was the mastermind behind their first after-party fic, and in a one-shot so heavily inspired, it seemed wrong not to give her special shoutout just one more time. That said... perhaps the blue Gandalf beard _didn't_ need to make a comeback in the readers' collective memory.

This was fun. Pierce wasn't sure where she stood with FF's posting guidelines, but if they decided to be jerks to their own love letter, she could always put a link in her profile to the Ao3 upload. The latter site was _way_ cooler with what they allowed. Let's hope that doesn't happen, everyone.

Until next time, thanks for reading, and I'll see you on the far side!


End file.
